Farewell my fellow seekers August 23, 2011
Posted by jvmullin in Job Searching, Job Searching.Tags: career, career search, careers, job hunting, Job Search, job seeking, jobs careers job hunting, reality, Viewpoint
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I have decided to devote my time to my passion which is leadership. My thoughts are to fix the top to make it better for those at the bottom and maybe in some round about way it will create more jobs for you my friends.
Therfore this will be my last post here.
I have also downsized my business to follow my passion as well so while the name Evolution Career Business Leadership wil remain for now my concentration will be on leadership only.
I wish you the best and much luck in your endeavor to fins that elusive position that you desire.
Thank you for following my posts.
The beatings will commence….. July 15, 2011
Posted by jvmullin in Job Searching, Job Searching.Tags: career, career search, careers, job hunting, Job Search, job seeking, jobs careers job hunting, reality, Viewpoint
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Remember that old joke we use to hear when we worked and morale was low?
“The beatings will commence and will continue until morale improves”
It seems that they have adopted that to the unemployed, the beating will commence and will continue until you are empployed.
Like the old joke it was as if it was your fault that morale was low and that it is your fault that you are unemployed.
As in either case the one truly responsible will never admit that it is really their fault.
Lets take a twist on a Harry Potter character One whose name shall not be mentioned and adopt it to the situation and call him/her the one who shall not be named.
It makes it that much harder on concentrating on finding a job when you feel that companies are beating you down for being in the situation your in like it is your fault.
A number of you are probably still asking yourself what did I do wrong to deserve this and maybe I am not as good as I thought I was. Stop that type of thinking because it had nothing to do with you.
A company needs to cut X number of dollars out of the budget. They tell an accountant eliminate X number of dollars.
You are not Mary, Sam or Nancy you are a number a dollar figure to the accountant as they don’t know you just what it cost the company to have you there. They work their formulas and math until the X value is reached. If your number was in the equation then you are gone. It doesn’t matter how good you are you just happen to have the wrong number at the right time.
A company will get rid of deadwood and weight in the first round of layoffs. They will also get rid of what they consider pure overhead, HR and Quality are big hits for these.
So if you survived the first or second round before getting laid off it wasn’t that you did something wrong it is just you fit the equation.
Now the problem is that companies are doing a number of wrong things. Here is a list,
1.) Running too lean
2.) Hunkering down to wait out the storm
3.) Hording money
4.) Mergers and Acquisitions M&A (actually this is a good time for that it is what typically happens)
5.) not taking risk to continue to grow the company and business.
M&A is bad for the job seeker because it places even more talented people in the job pool which is already overcrowded as it is.
M&A is not helping the economy because there will be more people not spending because they need every penny to try and survive. Also the ones that still have jobs will not spend for fear that another round of cuts will be imminent.
Despite what the economist, business analyst and politicians say I do not think we have hit bottom yet and the ground we walk on is unstable at best.
I know that you don’t want to hear that but it helps to know the reality so we can better strategize how to move forward. This is war! Only the strong will survive!
Let me know what you think?
What is your story and how can we help?
Do I go or do I stay? Part 1 June 13, 2011
Posted by jvmullin in Job Searching, Job Searching.Tags: attitude, career search, job hunting, Job Search, job seeking, jobs careers job hunting, reality, stress, Viewpoint
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Upon typing the title I realized that it has two purposes one for job seekers and one for employed people thinking of jumping ship.
Part 1 will be for seekers and part 2 will be for employed.
As workers we do not have control over the markets or the shifts in markets. Sometimes the markets will shift geographically for economical reason for the company.
This creates situations that will instill fear into the hearts of brave men and women. The decision to stay or to go.
For the new graduates entering the work world your family is your security blanket your fall back plan until you have established yourself enough to be on your own. To be independent.
For the experienced worker. You have bought a house you have have a family you have friends….you are comfortable in your surroundings. Your family needs you to be close so that you can watch out over them. It is a tough world and you want the best for your children and you want to see your grandchildren grow up.
When I was working in the electronics industry I knew that I had a limited choice of places to work. What I called the hot spots, Boston, Phoenix, California, Washington(state), New Mexico and Texas. That changed in recent years and has seemed to dwindle down to Silicon Valley as being the last hot spot for electronics. Yes there are small scatterings of electronics throughout the country but it isn’t like the hubs of old when you could feel more secure about going to an area where there may be multiple opportunities.
So the choice boils down to this; do I stay and find a new field and struggle to work my way to the top or do I follow my passion and move to where the job is?
You have a choice of moving the whole family or going out by yourself and just rent a room. You can come home once in awhile while you establish yourself and get comfortable enough to bring the rest of the family out. This allows you time to find the right neighborhood with the right schools before bringing everyone out.
You always have a choice to stay find lower paying work and struggle or not find work because you are overqualified or not qualified for the new field and wind up homeless. Who have you served by doing this? Your family situation is not one of love peace and harmony. The stress is effecting everyone. Your wife may have to go out and find work to make up the difference between what you used to make and what you are making now and in most cases that isn’t enough either. Then who will watch the grandchildren because their mother has to work to make ends meet.
Fear is what holds you place. Fear of the unknown, meeting new people making new friends, selling the old house and buying a new one in an unstable market.
The alternative is maintaining the job you are passionate about, the one you are qualified for, the one that may still have upward mobility opportunities with it. The ability to still support your family.
Distance isn’t the enemy not in this age of text messages, video calls, Skype, Internet, and transportation.
I told my children 2 years ago I love you to death but I have to go where the jobs are even if is off-shore. They understood.
The easy decision isn’t always the right one and the tough ones are the hardest to make but usually are the best because they have been well thought out and planned.
So do you stay and everyone possibly suffers or do you go and embrace a new world and opportunity?
What are you going to do?
What has been your experience if you stayed?
What has been your experienced if you went?
Rapture is a bust get back to your job search! May 23, 2011
Posted by jvmullin in Job Searching, Job Searching.Tags: career search, job hunting, Job Search, job seeking, jobs careers job hunting, reality
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I am sure that most of you were hoping that at 6 PM last Saturday that you would be floating up to heaven and no longer had to worry about searching for that elusive job.
Well, I didn’t see any souls going to heaven and I didn’t feel any earthquake as I left my part time job at 6 PM for the walk home. I am glad I didn’t purchase the anti-vibration pads for my shoes for the stagger home!
I know some of you will tell me but we can hope can’t we? My reply would be without hope we cannot persevere through these trying times.
Hope is what drives us to keep getting up every morning and applying for more jobs. We all hope today will be the day.
I know the ones that have been unemployed for more than 99 weeks ( or 27 monthers as we call ourselves around here) may not have had enough worldly positions left to sell to make a dent in anything so I hope you didn’t succumb to doing that because now things are even worse.
I am hoping that no one drank the Kool-Aid Saturday!
Some may have felt that this was the escape for the worries and drudgery of job hunting. Some may have wished real hard that this guy was right and that there misery here on earth will come to an end. That they and their family could rejoice in heaven and live in peace. It is a nice dream but it isn’t reality as there is no proof that heaven even exists it is all based on faith in the belief that it does not on facts.
The reality is that we are still here and the we have to continue the struggle.
In closing I will just say be aware of those who would prey on people such as us and take advantage of us while we are desperate. DO NOT BUY any tickets to the Real Rapture, date to be announced later. It is a scam and I would hate to see any unemployed people fall for it.
A tuff row to hoe!! May 5, 2011
Posted by jvmullin in Job Searching, Job Searching.Tags: career search, job hunting, Job Search, job seeking, jobs careers job hunting, reality, stress, Viewpoint
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Well I am sure that the latest news of unemployment jumping up have some of you pulling your hair out or becoming despaired. It certainly isn’t making your life any easier especially if you are a 27+ weeker.
It may be time to face the reality that our nation is in deep trouble and the end doesn’t seem to be in sight. You may have to face the facts that the job you use to do is not going to be available for some time. The last I heard was 2018 to get back to prerecession numbers and that may not be that solid now.
I am not being negative here I am being realistic and it is time for you to do the same. What was your fall back plan your plan B? Did you have one?
It is time for some deep reflection and skill analysis and ask yourself what else can I do that would get me hired somewhere.
I myself am having a hard time having been a 27+weeker and took a job at Lowe’s working weekends and holidays. I work $20 hrs a week for about $11/hr. It isn’t as living but I can survive with the help of my oldest son.
My background was in electronics and management but I have come to the realization that those jobs are gone and that companies are no longer interested in what is being deemed servant leadership.
I have the business I started in 2010 just before my benefits ran out and it is a struggle in this economy to find work but yet I refuse to give in.
I will find a way to get back on my feet and be proud again. I am sure that you can do the same. It is time to re-invent yourself in order to survive.
We cannot rely on corporate America to fix themselves any time soon as they have learned to operate lean and mean and are going to stay that way. The mergers and acquisitions that are still going on will mean less jobs not more.
Until they realize they are killing themselves slowly corporations will continue to operate with their heads in the sand.
We cannot wait for them to get their heads out of their …..well lets not go there!
It is time for us to move on and forward!
Our worst adversaries! March 21, 2011
Posted by jvmullin in Job Searching, Job Searching.Tags: attitude, career, career search, careers, job hunting, Job Search, job seeking, jobs careers job hunting, reality, stress, Viewpoint
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I will say that most of you reading the headline will think I am going to talk about recruiters and HR.
While they are formidable opponents they are not our worse but any stretch of the imagination.
We are our own worse enemies! Our two biggest adversaries we need to be fighting every second of every day is negativity, desperation and depression.
These three evil forces work much the same way as cancer does. They start out small and unassuming. Then they start to grow and fester until the change who we really are.
They can turn the best professionals into the cranky whiners that you would not want to hire on your worst day.
We have to understand that these three adversaries carry with us everywhere we go we wear them like a well fitted suit. The problem is the well fitted suits has print on it that says warning warning stay away from this person.
It carries with us into every phone screen and every interview. It clouds our thinking and effects our body language and our attitudes. They will turn the most intelligent person into the biggest dumbass in a matter of weeks.
These are also highly contagious especially in groups of like individuals. Yes misery loves company. But will take someone in the group who is positive and drag them down into the murky depths of despair and gloom.
As intelligent professionals we of all people should realize this and know full well what the ramifications of these adversaries are. We should know full well what it means to our chances of getting out of the situation we are in.
The answer is to maintain a daily regiment of positive thinking with a large dose of confidence and self reflection.
Not to dwell on what isn’t working but to learn and move forward. We are not in a position to have a reverse our only direction is forward.
We need to kill the three adversaries and replace them with good things so that we will prevail through these hard times.
I am looking for positive people to join me in my quest. My role will be from here forward to be positive to a point where it is contagious and to distance myself from the naysayers who have been too overwhelmed by these cancers. This is by no means an easy task but anything worthwhile comes at the end of hard work and effort.
So are you with me or against me. Excuses not allowed on solutions and results.
What are your comments?
Dumbing down resumes March 15, 2011
Posted by jvmullin in Job Searching, Job Searching.Tags: attitude, career, career search, careers, job hunting, Job Search, job seeking, jobs careers job hunting, reality, resumes, stress, Viewpoint
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If this subject isn’t like opening a can of worms!
Do I or don’t I?
I need a job and I keep hearing that I am over qualified so should I dumb down my resume?
There are pros and cons to doing it and it could get you fired right after you have started a job.
If you dumb down your resume to get hired then once you are in you will want to prove yourself right? Well not so fast there, remember you dumb down your resume so you are not suppose to be good at what you do much less that advanced in it. So that will throw red flags up and then they will start asking how you know so much.
You have just been nailed! Some companies feel that omissions on a resume is the same as lying on your resume and it is grounds for immediate dismissal. So goes your short lived job.
Now the other problem for you. You have to remember what you didn’t put on there so you don’t mess up and look smarter than your dumb resume. So this puts stress on you to remember what your dumb you is versus the smart you who wants to excel. So it is how long can you play the dumb game before the stress makes you go crazy.
ANOTHER VIEW
If you need to dumb down your resume to get a job, how happy will you be in a job where you know that your smarter than your boss and maybe even their boss. How happy will you be knowing that you had to degrade yourself to land a job. You are going to be miserable and not very productive and this could effect your 90 day review.
The other part of that is you are proud of the work you have done and the skills you have acquired and you hate the fact that you have to dumb down to get a job. So again you are miserable and the question is can you leave that misery at work or are you going to wear it as your albatross??? Now your friends and/or family are miserable.
So what do you do?
Well that is up to you. I know things are getting desperate and that money is tight and about to run out. So you think it is desperation time just dumb it down and get a job any job at this point.
Well if you are going that route don’t apply for a company your really want to work at because it could destroy your chances of working there the right way. If you are going for survival work while you still look for your dream job I would say do what you think is best for you.
In closing let me just say keep track of who you sent the dumb resume to as you don’t want to show up at an interview and spring the smart resume on them. That would make the interview real short.
Choices March 10, 2011
Posted by jvmullin in Job Searching.Tags: attitude, career search, careers, job hunting, Job Search, job seeking, jobs careers job hunting, mentor, rage, reality, recruiting, stress, Viewpoint
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Where do I start with choices that job seekers have? There are not many and they are all tough choices.
We are up against the worst job market since probably the depression. It isn’t getting any better. The government is absolutely no help as they are controlled by finance and big business. Just look at AIG and Goldman Sachs, they bail them out only to have these companies go right back to business as usual and the government sits silent and does nothing. Oh they put on an air pushing for reform but that was to appease the tax payers and then let it die in the media and congress.
Since things are so frustrating job seekers are in a front line battle with HR and recruiters. This is one of those feuds that have been going on far too long like the Hatfield’s and the McCoys. At least in some groups the better recruiters are trying diligently to train job seekers and bad recruiters as to how it done properly.
It could be companies have agents to keep this feud going as it detracts from them who are the real problem here. Them! Yes they are the ones that can’t make a decision, they have no clue what they really need, and their attitude about unemployed need no apply.
Then there are there job postings. What moron is writing these things up? They themselves couldn’t fill the position they are advertising as they would be highly underqualified.
There are many merger and acquisitions going on which equates to more layoffs and then companies are still laying off anyway. AOL just laid off 200 in the US only. Thanks AOL for boosting the economy. I am glad I got away from them many years ago.
So what choices do we have with all this going against us.
The choices are these;
1.) Refuse to be intimidated by the situation and all the players in it.
2.) Resolve to stay positve and help others like yourself stay positive.
3.) Do not give up ever! Yes it is tough but you are a professional and do professionals throw in the towel? No! They find solutions. So find yours!
4.) Get out of the house, network, walk, get a cup of coffee or tea, visit a friend who is unemployed.
5.) Stick to your values and ethics.
6.) They cannot take away your knowledge, skills and experience. But just because you are not working doen’t mean yu can’t use them to help you land that next job.
7.) Stop generating excuses and being a naysayer. Get positive and confident.
8.) Get into LinkedIn Job hunt groups and also recruiter groups so that you can have discussion and not assumptions. The good ones will help you.
9.) Help out around the house but wait until after dinner, your 9-5 is your job search job nothing else.
So it boils down to your choice is to let this defeat you or you can pull yourself up by the bootstraps and move forward.
Is it time to fight back? February 23, 2011
Posted by jvmullin in Job Searching, Job Searching.Tags: attitude, career, career search, careers, HR, job hunting, Job Search, job seeking, jobs careers job hunting, rage, reality, recruiting, stress, Viewpoint
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I hear horror stories form job seekers on a daily basis. I find it at times hard to phathom how recruiters HR and companies can be so insensitive and unethical and especially unprofessional. How these people are totally clueless to the impact that their actions have on them, their industry, their field, and their business. The fact that the leadership nay the , because they lack leadership, allows this to happen and in some cases condones it. i.e. unemployeed need not apply!
We hear from all types of sources that we can not use abbreviations nor acronyms in our resumes, which by the way are industry specific and widely used in that industry. However when we view job postings they are laden with exactly what we are not allowed to use. This double standard has a negative reflection on HR and recruiters but then they don’t care. They are of the school of do as I say not as I do. Well I for one and I am sure there are many am fed up with the double standard. I probably will not get the job nor do I want to work for such companies anyway so I might as well enjoy the process my way.
We see it on job boards, God why is anyone still using them?, we see it on LinkedIn and other sites.
I have started a campaign to right this injustice.
When I see things like “I’m Hiring” I will not inquire if they are talking humans or animals. Which MLM or insurance company do they represent.
No I don’t want to buy or sell viagra and no I don’t want to hear your how to get rich scheme where the only one making millions is you off of desperate people.
I will point out that the ad is confusing between abbreviations and acronyms and if I am told that it is okay for the ad because it is industry standards I will put them in my resume with a bold note at the top informing them that all abbreviations and acronyms are industry standards.
I will also make it a habit to point out to them poor grammar and spelling errors. Then inform them that I could not work for a company with such poor work ethics.
Our time is valuable as we work much longer hours than they do trying to find work so that we may survive. So I feel it is in our right to dish back to them the junk they throw at us all the time.
Maybe just maybe it may strike a chord in their small minds and bring to light how unprofessional and callous they have been.
I pointed out the one HR person yesterday as to how it wasted my time responding to his “Excellent oppotunity” ad just to find out it was for sales. Yes that is the exact spelling from the ad and I pointed that out as well.
I received an apology and a thanks for the feedback and a promise that he would be more respectful in the future.
So it is a start of my mission for us all.
Dear Corporate America I am not resting on my laurels Sincerely Jobseeker January 21, 2011
Posted by jvmullin in Job Searching, Job Searching.Tags: attitude, career, career search, careers, job hunting, Job Search, job seeking, jobs careers job hunting, reality, recruiting, Viewpoint, volunteering
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There has been much discussion these past year about how companies and others are looking at job seekers.
They call them lazy, unqualified, deadbeats, entitled and others.
I guess they easily forget tit was they who put a high number of highly qualified people on the streets in the name of profits ans shareholder equity. Now instead of being part of the solution to help the economy they have become a larger part of the problem. They are also assisted by the recruiting industry.
Can you blame the qualified people who have been out of work for so long to give up hope on landing a position with the treatment they have received and unduly at that. Shame on you people! Your attitude and actions should be considered unethical and immoral to say the least. But this seems to be the attitude that prevails in America today.
A vast number of qualified people to keep their skills up to date have taken on volunteer work, consulting, contract and short term employment. They do this to survive and even at that it is a struggle.
But now you are even using that as an excuse not to hire someone. The practice started at the end of 2010 that is you are not employed you need not apply was the most absurd shoot yourself in the foot move that I have ever seen. Then you have the audacity to state that you cannot find qualified candidates to fill your open positions while you treat your employees like slave labor. You are your own worst enemy.
The economy is starting to turn and you will need to replace a number of positions that you vacated. It would serve you right to not be able to attract or retain top talent. It would serve you right for the people working for you now to not increase their productivity one iota. This is what you are facing for your sins.
I know a number of highly qualified seekers who speak with me frequently on their frustrations and how they have been demoralized by you people. IS compassion dead in the business world? It sure appears that way.
I have to encourage these people to persevere and to stay focused in their endeavors. I have to try to make sense of what is going on in order to give them some gleam of hope. I myself am finding it harder to fathom these actions that I speak of and can only chalk it up to poor leadership, which also seem prevalent today. I understand in business when things start to turn down that is is a good time to get rid of deadwood in the first RIF. What I have a hard time fathoming is the actions being taken against people who are qualified that were parts of the preceding RIF’s. I just can’t understand the reasoning behind this abomination. Were you thinking that your company was the only one that suffered the recession in your industry? I wish someone would explain to me the valid reasoning behind these insane practices so that I might be better equipped to explain it to my clients.
SO what I would like Corporate America to understand that the qualified people are not sitting at home on their ass watching soap operas and eating bon-bons. They are out there volunteering, consulting, contracting and working temp in order to keep there skills fresh. They are patiently waiting for the opportunity to help your company recover and move forward. You are over looking one of the hardest working forces waiting for this energy to be unleashed by you. And you have the audacity to look down on such a valuable asset. I question where you learned how to run a business and further questions your leadership skills.
This blog will invoke anger as it is intended to. But I wish you to carefully consider is that anger really at me as a scapegoat or yourself for the actions you have brought about on others. Do these unconscionable actions excuses to help you sleep better at night? To be able to get up in the morning and face yourself in the mirror knowing there are seekers and their families suffering, being torn to the brink of destruction, due your decisions and actions?
I am running out of excuses for your actions. I used up all the business reasons and they no longer fly. So what is your solution or are you going to continue being the problem?
Job seeking from a hunters perspective Blog 